The Rapid Response Team Policy Analysis

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Rapid response team policy is designed to be applied by medical, pediatric, and gynecology physicians, nursing staff, and respiratory therapists. The policy provides for a speedy response team, a formally designated squad consisting of multidisciplinary members that assess and manage patients who have shown earlier signs of deterioration in clinical status (Ko et al., 2020). The team acts promptly before the patient develops an irreversible decline that may lead to respiratory or cardiac arrest. The policy is designed to respond quickly to patients getting worse outside the intensive care unit. This helps to provide the appropriate procedure that should be followed by healthcare staff and patients when requesting assistance from the appropriately trained rapid response team (Stolldorf, 2019). Thus, the above enable early recognition of worsening patients, which allows for intervention before taking the client to the critical unit, thus, reducing the cases of non-intensive care unit cardiopulmonary arrests.

The effectiveness of the policy is determined by how well the rapid response team will be set and the relationship with other support staff in the ward. The policy has laid its scope, which has six parts. The first part defines the purpose and duties of the team when attending to the patients before their health weakens; thus, this procedure is only applied to in-house patients. Secondly, the group intends not to immediately replace the roles of the health caregivers, the most responsible physician, or the designee doctor but to give further assistance (Ko et al., 2020). Thirdly, the rapid response team is not intended to replace the hospital emergency code (Code Blue) in instant severe conditions.

Fourthly, the implementation of the policy is to be done in two phases; the first stage will involve devising the proper environment for the team. This comprises liaising with hospital administration, data collection and reviewing, training the group, and educating the ward nursing staff about their roles (Ko et al., 2020). The second part consists of commissioning the team, while the fifth phase ensures that the squad will be active twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. In the sixth stage, the team’s activities and outcomes will be evaluated regularly.

The team’s efficiency is determined by how well the procedures are developed and implemented. The steps to be followed for the activities are well distinguished. The first part sets the process of activating the team. This is based on evidence collected by the bedside health care assistant or any clinical care assistant who happens to be close to the patient. There are parameters set by the policy which, when the patient reaches the rapid response team, is called into action. These considerations, including the heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and respiratory rate, should be reviewed on multiple occasions (Ko et al., 2020). The second part sets the order of informing the rapid response team. It states the actual phone number to be used and the words to be said to the receiver. This is important to ensure that there are no cases of misinterpretation. The procedure also provides for a committee that ensures the smooth running of the team. The committee sets the duties of every team member, ensures that the team has enough resources, conducts an audit of the events, and ensures a smooth shift transition.

In conclusion, this policy is crucial to improving efficiency in health care. This policy is the fourth edition which is an improvement of the previous three policies. It is a step in reducing the load on critical care units such as intensive care units. For this policy to work, the coordination of the hospital administration and the rapid response team committee should be good. The availability of funds to manage the team is also a critical factor in the team’s efficiency as the team adds to increased wages; therefore, the medical service department should be ready to incur the extra expenses.